


Watch the Orange Glow

by Etnoe



Category: Wu Assassins (TV)
Genre: Aftermath, Fire, Gen, Hugs, Pre-Canon, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-24 11:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20906759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/pseuds/Etnoe
Summary: Uncle Six took care of most of the effects of the fire, which already promised trouble. There's one more detail that Jenny couldn't have anticipated would need dealing with.





	Watch the Orange Glow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivine/gifts).

When Uncle Six took care of things, he took care of them properly - ambulances, fire engines, a jacket to put under Lu Xin's face as he lay on the ground.

He was always like that, according to Kai when Kai was willing to say anything about him, and according to pretty much everyone in Chinatown that he approached without violence. The man was so good at what he did it was easy not to realise you needed to do anything yourself but to keep shaking, staring.

And that was exactly the point where Jenny came to herself and managed to clench her jaw on her chattering teeth, even as the building thundered in fire and collapse and Lu Xin cried and cried. There was always something to do.

Lu Xin had plans, but no money yet, not real influence either. His whole back, his head, was _smoking_—how could he give payback? That was how it worked with the Triad; even as one of Kai's best friends, he was almost certain to end up owing favours. All of them had been saved, too, so there was more owed than Lu Xin's potential debt.

All of them had better stay saved, Jenny thought as the three of them were left clutching at each other as Uncle Six accompanied Lu Xin in the ambulance. She watched until the ambulance was out of sight and knew she could do no more about him right now, but she _would_ manage things out here. No choice, but no doubt about it, and no regret.

The fire had to be Tommy's fault, too... Cigarette smoke outside the door - one of the butts he'd flicked away as he stood guard had caught something, Jenny thought as she leaned against him to help still her shaking, as his wet face fell on her shoulder. So she owed it doubly to do something.

Initially, it was simple: Keep their parents' information about the fire limited, perform well at the restaurant after a little rest to recover from minimal smoke inhalation, be an extra-good girl, visit Lu Xin as soon as it was allowed, help Kai out while Uncle Six was busy. Keeping things seeming as normal as possible was important, and the only money and influence she had access to was via the restaurant. And she kept on alert for anything that stood out as being outside the norm, in case anyone would try to pressure her family or Kai for payback.

Nothing happened for four days, and then Tommy stayed out all night. He'd been staying out a lot, but he'd always come back even if it had been late. And then early the next morning, before she'd finished weighing her options as to who she might be able to coax information out of about where to find him, he stumbled into her bedroom.

Without preamble, he said, "Is Kai talking to you?"

"Kai?"

"Yeah, you know. Mr Stoic. Mr Probably As Freaked Out As You And Me..." Tommy laughed, or whimpered. "So is he talking to you yet, or um. Do you think he won't? Ever?"

There were two sides. Tommy had caused the fire; Lu Xin had been hurt in the fire. Jenny was already on a side, so Kai was already on the other side.

If they talked about it, it wouldn't be so childish or simple - but they weren't, after all, talking to each other. She crossed her arms tight and glared at Tommy and his wan, tired face, his messy clothes. He drew up straight, then whirled around and shut the door gently, and crept to where she sat on her bed, practiced at being stealthy in his boots.

"And, I killed the Triad," he added. "Like, all of them, they were in the building too, the bosses? All of them. The Triad and Lu, I just fucked ... all these people up. I--" Tommy buried his face in his hands. "Yeah, so! Oh God!"

"Oh God," Jenny agreed.

Well, they didn't owe Uncle Six anymore.

That didn't make everything easy now.

The Triad power struggle mostly wasn't obvious, aside from the way you did find people going home earlier at night. Uncle Six was in the lead for taking up a lot of that power - even helping Lu Xin and the rest of them had helped cement his role in the community. Jenny wasn't cynical enough to think he'd helped for that reason, when he'd been so shaken and knew how much Lu Xin meant to Kai, but she was cynical enough to be determined to use that fact if he ever did try and come around with talk of repayment.

She made Tommy stay home after that as much as she could. Getting him to practise his piano-playing worked okay - their parents liked that, and he could lose himself in it. That always seemed to be easier for Tommy than anything else.

His guilt felt new, though. That wasn't fair, but it did.

"No, Jen, I gotta go," he told her over the weekend, already out the door and eyes anywhere but on her. "Look, I just - come on, you have things covered with them—"

"You make our parents sound like they might as well be the police."

"Yeah, well. Can't be in here anymore. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Maybe it would be Sunday morning. But if she said that, she'd sound like their parents.

He turned to go and Jenny found herself uncrossing her arms and grabbing for him. She got his wrist and held on as clingingly as she had while watching the fire, then moved her grip to his hand. Tommy cradled her hand in both of his, breathing in a wet sigh, and it was surprising how big they were.

Sure, she could be mad forever. Lu Xin really might be. But she needed him to know that he could run back as well as run away, always.

Unfailingly polite, unfailingly alert, and it paid off right in time. Jenny caught sideways glances in the restaurant that struck her strangely, and the next day found herself stopped in the street with a bag of library books hanging heavily from a shoulder, answering very sympathetic and thorough queries about the night of the fire from a guy she knew vaguely. She let herself be wobbly in talking about it, so he had room to decide she was overwhelmed. It was insulting, but it would hopefully get rid of him faster than if he thought she was too smart for her own good.

When Jenny got home, she hesitated between running for her parents and running to her room to get money for a cab. But they'd tell her not to be ridiculous and to stay home - who was to say that the Triad would question Lu Xin about the night of the fire, and whether or not they'd hurt him when they did? Besides, it wasn't visiting hours yet.

Instinct told Jenny that whoever was out asking questions would definitely put pressure on the most vulnerable of her friends. She'd fought enough to want to trust this need to hit back right now, and so she left a note that she'd be out on the kitchen table.

She was heading for a corner near a hotel, more likely to have cabs nearby, when Tommy cannoned into her. "Jenny, Jenny, you have to listen—" He whispered nearly against her ear: "I heard they're gonna go to Lu, there are questions about the fire and I got out without anybody seeing that I'd heard?"

"Damn it. I _thought_ something like that might happen. Somebody was asking me questions too, but it felt weird, like something was off."

He pulled back and fixed wide, terrified eyes on her. "But you're okay?"

"The guy didn't do anything, I'm fine. But I was worried about Lu Xin too."

When he said, "Yeah! So we have to go to Lu's probably like, right now, okay?" she realised that she'd been waiting for Tommy to tell her to go alone.

Tommy knew ways of getting into the hospital that Jenny was going to ask him about as soon as the emergency was over.

Kai was already in the room and looked so settled in the bedside chair that he must have been there for a good while already. It was probably Uncle Six's influence that he could disregard visiting hours, especially since it was definitely his influence that the room was private. He and Lu Xin were murmuring to each other - that had to mean Lu Xin's painkillers were still good ones. It was a trap to be grateful to Six, so Jenny would keep it her own secret that she really, really was.

She and Tommy scrambled with an explanation. Lu Xin started swearing, but getting worked up hurt him and he fell silent as he forcibly relaxed his back. They all became silent, waiting.

Only one man slipped into Lu's room, thankfully, dressed all in black like he was doing his best to embody the complete opposite atmosphere to the pale shades of the hospital. It was doubtful that a fight would be necessary and he'd probably have a weapon, but the odds were still much better this way. He stopped short when he saw three visitors arranged around Lu Xin's bed.

"Hey, man," said Tommy, stepping up. "What's up? Kind of a private gathering here, you know. Our buddy's got all the company he needs."

"Maybe," the man said. "But I can't turn around just yet."

"Yeah, why's that? Lu, you even know this, uh, this gentleman here?" Tommy said, half over his shoulder.

"Just let him the fuck in," Lu Xin said. "Bug me to death, it can't feel worse than this. What the hell do you want, man?"

He just talked a lot about how they were idiots, the four of them. And he said that he had no idea how the fire had started, full-on ranting about how it had spread so fast it had been impossible to escape until Uncle Six came to help. The man from the Triad was the one to ask him to calm down as the rest of them went into a stony silence. But he added, "You trying to distract me with all this babble?"

"That is literally all that happened," Jenny said with quiet deliberateness. "And he's recovering. He's giving you more of his time than he really should."

"He needs rest," Kai said. He was advertising how ready he was to fight in his stance. Jenny was trying to keep herself from being obvious.

"What do you think happened, man?" Tommy scoffed. "Like, we're part of a grand conspiracy? Literally all we were doing was messing around, that's it, nothing was supposed to go so fucking wrong like that. Oh, God. It was unlucky. It was really..."

He physically turned his back on Lu Xin, stepping away from his post beside the bed. His eyes darted like they did when he was guilty, never going anywhere near Lu. But he kept himself between the hospital bed and the man from the Triad.

"Didn't see anything," he said in a voice thick with tears. "It happened too fast, it was everywhere before we knew it. I was ... I've never been so surprised in my life. It was just there, all over."

Lu Xin yelled something wordless into the bed. Everyone jumped a little.

"It was an accident, all right, man? No one ... no one here wanted it. Now fuck off. Please. Thanks for the oh so pleasant visit, everyone. _Go_."

Jenny didn't get to ask about how Tommy knew all about sneaking on the hospital, because as soon as they were alone outside, he asked, "You think Lu forgives me?"

It was something he said with his whole body. He leaned towards the hospital building so much that it seemed like next he'd go on tiptoes, and he stared up like it was possible to see Lu Xin's room from here, though it didn't even have a window. Longing and hope had settled him, and he was more still than she'd seen him since before the fire. Since before that.

"Tommy, listen to me."

And he looked at her again. Jenny crooked a smile, a little unfamiliar for how sincere it was, and wrapped him in a hug. She didn't meant to clench her fists in his shirt, and he wheezed a little point, but he was happy to hug her in return, resting his head against hers.

"I can't tell you that. I think so. But Lu's been through shit and there's still a lot of recovery to come, so I don't know how he's going to feel later."

Tommy tightened his grip. She remembered him standing between the bed and the man in black, skinny and uncertain even in his certainty.

"If Lu Xin doesn't forgive you, I'm sorry. But I won't care about it. Okay?"

"That's a good promise to have. Okay. Okay," he said, and let her go. Then put an arm around her shoulders, and after a second, started walking so he'd have an excuse to make it feel natural.

"You're a good friend," Jenny said.

"You're the best sister. If you hadn't been covering with the parents like you did, I would probably be stuck in my room right now, wouldn't even have heard about that guy trying to mess with Lu Xin. I am just so glad I was there. I have to try, you know." Tommy sighed. "After a fuck-up like that. Being a good friend ... I'll have to try."

"We all have to. Always."

Still. She could put her arm around him in return and relax as they walked, and that meant a great deal too.


End file.
